Genesee County considers selling or demolishing McCree parking ramp

GENESEE COUNTY, MI -- A county-owned parking ramp in downtown Flint is losing more than $50,000 a year, and members of the Board of Commissioners are considering options including selling or demolishing the structure.

Located across Beach Street from the McCree Courts & Human Services Building, the ramp is safe, but will need cosmetic and structural repairs in the near future, commissioners said in a subcommittee meeting Wednesday, Jan. 15.

"I think this issue needs to be tackled in 2014," said Commissioner Ted Henry, D-Clayton Twp. "We're not the county we used to be."

County government has become smaller -- with fewer employees and less need for employee parking as property values and tax collections have dropped the sharply since 2007.

The taxable value of all Genesee County properties declined $3.6 billion -- almost 31 percent -- from 2007 until 2013.

Built in the early 1960s, the McCree ramp has more than 800 parking spaces, about half of which generate no revenue because they are dedicated for use by county employees.

Officials said that many of those dedicated parking spots aren't being used and there could be room in other county-owned lots to accommodate workers.

Although commissioners have talked about the poor condition of the ramp for years, they have not undertaken what's been estimated in the past as an estimated $13-million job of taking it down and replacing it.

Basic repairs have cost more than $2 million in the past two decades.

County Controller Keith Francis said county officials have had "very preliminary" talks with the company that manages the McCree ramp about its interest in purchasing the structure.

Given the condition of the ramp, a buyer would likely offer the county a "low (dollar) number" for it, Francis said, but such a sale "would stop the bleeding and (avoid) future infrastructure costs."

Commissioners said the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce recently suggested cosmetic repairs to the parking ramp that would improve the appearance of the structure but said they don't have the money to make even those fixes without new revenue.